Why Is John Cena’s SummerSlam Record So Bad?

That’s not a typo. While everyone loves to claim “LOLCENAWINS” at any given chance, it’s simply not true at SummerSlam. If Super Cena has a kryptonite, it’s The Biggest Event of The Summer.

The last time Cena won at SummerSlam was 2010 when Team WWE defeated Team Nexus. The last time he won a one-on-one match, you have to go back ten years to his match against Randy Orton.

Since 2011, the 16-time world champion has lost one-on-one bouts against CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Brock Lesnar, Seth Rollins, and AJ Styles at the annual August event.

What is it about SummerSlam that causes Big Match John to throw up on his jorts?

We know it’s not the pressure. Cena is 10-3 at WrestleMania, which is The Grandest Stage of Them All and a more pressure packed event than SummerSlam.

It can’t be the competition level. Cena defeated Mr. WrestleMania Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania. He made 14-time WWE/World champion Triple H tap out. He defeated Hall of Famer Edge and The World’s Largest Athlete in the same match. He beat Hollywood stars Batista, The Rock, and The Miz. He was the first man to pin Bray Wyatt and Rusev in single’s competition.

CM Punk is a quitter, Daniel Bryan was a B+ player, Brock Lesnar is admittedly awesome and there’s no shame in losing to him, Seth Rollins buckles under pressure, and AJ Styles was an Indy geek who was only used to wrestling in front of 100 people in high school gyms.

One theory is that it’s colder inside the SummerSlam arenas. WrestleMania is typically held outside in warm environments. Cena thrives in this environment because your boy is so hot that he’ll never be caught in the next man’s sweater. He also enjoys laying people down for the 3-second tan.

The lights inside the arena make it impossible to tan (they are not bright enough or close enough to the person tanning) and also increase the need for Cena to borrow the next man’s sweater.

Maybe Cena doesn’t see SummerSlam as a big deal. While WWE has built it up as the second biggest event of the year, it’s possible that Cena disagrees. To him, SummerSlam may as well be Cyber Sunday. You may say that Cena should treat every event like it’s WrestleMania, but we all know that’s not how mentality works in sports.

When you wrestle as many matches as Cena and you’re always the target, it’s tough to give 100 percent every night. Look at the Golden State Warriors. They are the most talented team in league history and could probably go 82-0 during the regular season if they gave their best effort on every night. But injuries happen. Fatigue happens. Looking past an opponent happens. Facing the San Antonio Spurs in primetime on Saturday night is different than facing the Brooklyn Nets on a Wednesday.

SummerSlam is treated by everyone as a primetime event, but if Cena doesn’t see it that way, his effort becomes less. We all know that guys like Punk, Bryan, Rollins, and Styles not only believe SummerSlam is the second biggest event of the year, they believe Cena is bigger than the belt.

And that might be another issue. Aside from last year’s contest with Styles, the other one-on-one losses have come in World title matches. Maybe Cena doesn’t care about the title?

His record tying 16th World title victory was met with little celebration. Everyone knows that the belt has been devalued over the years, thanks to the brand split, guys dropping the title without being pinned, and Money in the Bank. Having the title no longer means that you’re the best wrestler. It means you were in the right place at the right time.

Cena understood this a long time ago. Other wrestlers look at facing John Cena at SummerSlam for the World title as the second biggest match they could possibly achieve (Cena at WrestleMania for the belt is the only match bigger) and enter said match accordingly. Cena just sees it as another match.

Maybe John Cena is just a generous man. He does more charity work in a week than most people do in a lifetime. He proposed to Nikki Bella after initially saying that he would never get married again. He continues to wrestle even though he could be a major movie star if he invested more time into acting. He still wants to be the best, which is why his WrestleMania record is as good as it is, but he also wants to push a new generation of talent, which is why he sacrifices at SummerSlam.